# UK's leaving of the EU question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-leaving-of-the-eu-question/759228 "2016-07-06T16:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-leaving-of-the-eu-question/759228/21 "2016-07-07T09:52:59Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > While in practice this has been true, technically, it is not correct. The Prime Minister is simply the person who can command a majority in the House of Commons. That can be any MP apart from the Speaker. (Well, the Speaker could but then she’d stop being the Speaker.) The obvious example of this is from May 1940. Churchill became Prime Minister because he could command the support of the Commons as the Labour Party were willing to enter a coalition with him as its head. Churchill was not the leader of his party, the Conservatives, as Chamberlain retained this role. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-leaving-of-the-eu-question/759228/22 "2016-07-07T12:06:26Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Not really, no. Suppose you favour Candidate C, who has no chance of winning, and loathe Candidate A, who very well might win. A tactical vote might be a vote for Candidate B who, while he’s not your favoured candidate, is nevertheless preferable to Candidate A. If enough people think like you, then candidate B gets elected, which is preferable to Candidate A getting elected. > > But this is neither nuanced nor sophisticated. You have succeeded in keeping Candidate A out, at the cost of not recording or registering your preference for Candidate C. Candidate B’s party may think its policies enjoy more support than they do. Worse, Candidate C’s party may think its policies - the ones you favour more than any other - enjoy _less_ support than they do, and may be induced to modify or even abandon them. > > A nuanced and sophisticated system would allow you to register your preference for Candidate C, while still voting in such a way as to disadvantage the loathsome Candidate A. First-past-the-post is not that system, however. It allows you to do one or other of these things, but not both. That’s a loss of nuance. You’re being a little parochial. Example: tactical voting delivered exactly what the electorate wanted in 2010 - a coalition that didn’t include the troubled Labour Party. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-leaving-of-the-eu-question/759228/23 "2016-07-07T18:37:07Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > The article did mention that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t seem to care if people likes him or not, but he’s in a minority party and not the PM so he has less to lose for himself and his party. Small nitpick. Labour isn’t a minority party, unless you mean in the strict sense that they don’t (currently) hold the majority of seats in Parliament. They are the second largest party and the Official Opposition to the Government, which is an important element of our Parliamentary system. If the Tories are our Republicans, then Labour are the Democrats. They are the party of Blair and Brown. The problem with Corbyn’s leadership challenge is that, now more than ever, we need a strong opposition to challenge this shit storm the Tories have created and hold them to account on their decisions in the coming months and years. Instead, they are squabbling amongst themselves, which is no use to Labour and no use to the country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uks-leaving-of-the-eu-question/759228.md?page=1)